Page 64 - Building Digital Libraries

Preservation Planning 4

Preservation is often the last thing considered as part of a digital library IN THIS CHAPTER
platform. It is the part of the project that is hidden from users and organiza-
tions, and it is something that people don’t think about until content needs  What Is Digital Preservation?
to be migrated, or serious issues occur requiring systems or content to be  Preserving the Content and
restored. It is in these moments that the failure to plan for preservation can Context, Not the Medium
have long-term costs and ramifications for an organization and personal  Why Preservation Doesn’t Happen
individual careers.  The Maturity Model
Why does preservation often get ignored? There are many reasons, but  Preservation File Formats
these are the most common ones:
 Cloud-Based Digital
1. A fundamental misunderstanding within organizations Preservation Services
and their information infrastructure staff of what  Summary
preservation entails.
2. Organizational paralysis, given the broad scope and
fuzzy workflows related to preservation work.
3. Preservation is viewed as a software and systems
problem, when in reality, it’s very much a people
problem.

We’ll take a closer look at why these three themes often push organiza-
tions to ignore preservation planning, essentially placing the digital library
platform’s long-term fate on hope and luck. This is a recipe for disaster, but
one that far too many organizations currently employ. The focus on the
access of content, the ability to build new collections, and serve new users
tends to override the long-term planning needed to preserve that access
for future generations. And to be clear, preservation is all about access—
without access, it’s hard to argue that successful preservation of content is
occurring. So while the two concepts of preservation and access are often
viewed separately, they should go hand in hand, as the success of one directly
affects the other.
For digital preservation planning to be successful and sustainable,
it cannot be the job of just one person or one system. It must represent

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